The first Mexican Dance was originally the ninth etude from Etudes for Marimba, Book 2. Warren Benson thought that the character of the music of the first dance was very different from the rest of the etudes of Book 2. He suggested that I remove it from that collection, write a second piece in a similar style, and call them Two Mexican Dances. Thus the dedication of the two pieces to Warren Benson.So I didn’t think of the first dance as being Mexican. I had never been to Mexico at that point in my life. Warren Benson however, heard something that made him think that. The first dance was composed in one day, with no revisions or changes. The second dance was begun on vibes, and took much longer to compose.